[dmeyer]

No, not that.

CUDA!

[l1407]

may be intel embree

[l1407]

mixing gpu cpu rendering

That would be nice. Without memory limitation to graphic card's.

may not be does it at the world!

[gadzooks]

These are my thoughts. Pretty much what Fernando Tella stated.

caustics through dielectrics (Lower SL to achieve better results)
Volume light
Smaller MXI files
Ambient Occlusion Pass ( More Render Passes in general)
Better speed performance in Fire
Enhanced MXM
Enhanced sun/sky model
Enhanced Multilight ( ability to add simulens to individual lights)

But I believe version 3 will be a ground breaking release for next limit. It's the technology they may have in version 3 that we haven't thought about that excites me the most.
we will see starting monday!

[Half Life]

Honestly I've kept my expectations very low -- what I really want is for existing "features" to perform better (and in "corner cases" like glass with sunlight, much much better)... I don't really care how this is achieved (eg: GPU or any other means).

After that my personal short wish list is:

Physical Sky improvements: Moon, Clouds, Volumetric (gods rays), etc.
MXM improvement: Procedurals, Vector Images/Masks, better layering options, cloth weaving parameters, etc.

Removing the need for AGS is most definitely a highly desirable improvement to me -- and one I think just about everyone would deeply appreciate. I doubt there is anybody who thinks AGS is a good thing... it is simply what we are forced to accept, with no real alternative.

Best,
Jason.

[dariolanza]

The Cuda thing is not possible yet, because the Ram memory limitation of the graphic card (allowing you to render scenes of luckily 1Gb or 2Gb as best) is not something that can be solved by software, until they overcome that limitation in the cards hardware themselves.

BUT I've seen some many intuitive people among you guys...

Some very good targeted ideas...

Dario Lanza

[dmeyer]

The Cuda thing is not possible yet, because the Ram memory limitation of the graphic card (allowing you to render scenes of luckily 1Gb or 2Gb as best) is not something that can be solved by software, until they overcome that limitation in the cards hardware themselves.

?

Modern cards have 6 GB or at least 4 GB.

I get the concern over memory limitations but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect users to not be using mobile phone level GPUs.

[numerobis]

Eliminating the AGS? Would it be an improvement?

i'll take this as joke...

The Cuda thing is not possible yet, because the Ram memory limitation of the graphic card (allowing you to render scenes of luckily 1Gb or 2Gb as best) is not something that can be solved by software, until they overcome that limitation in the cards hardware themselves.

so how about Xeon Phi?!? They offer up to 16gb now.

And there are already consumer video cards using 5-6GB. And the next generation nvidia chips called "Maxwell" (coincidence?!? ) will feature the unified virtual memory technology to use the system RAM next year.

[numerobis]

Smaller MXI files!

i think mxi files is a point that has been greatly improved already.

[oz42]

having read the fxguide article, I'm 'guessing';

There will be between 25 and 30 new features from volumetrics to deep compositing, it is a major release, the biggest release in our history

volumetrics is very welcome and I'd love to see real sky / clouds as well

oh, and FREE upgrade to v3 for all forum users with over 700 posts

[gadzooks]

i think mxi files is a point that has been greatly improved already.

My mxi are still 2 to 3 gig's in size. Am i missing something?

[prodviz]

I'm looking forward to the announcements too.

Here's my thoughts:
How about a GPU based Fire option.

This way we could speed up preview renders (there would be no need to revoxel when moving lights etc.).

And the RAM overhead could be low by limiting Fire's resolution.

I second a better layering shader option, with flake, clear coat layers etc. in one, non additive setup.

cheers,

Steve

[jfrancis]

So if the official announcement is at siggraph -- any guesses as to when the official release will be?

Within the year?

[numerobis]

My mxi are still 2 to 3 gig's in size. Am i missing something?

i don't know... i get much smaller files since 2.7 - ok, they are still much bigger than exr or hdr files and smaller files are always welcome, but for me it was an remarkable improvement.

[Fernando Tella]

So if the official announcement is at siggraph -- any guesses as to when the official release will be?

Within the year?

I think I read something about october.